Yes, yes, yes, huge cliffhanger, I know…I'll go ahead and get on with it then…

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, but I do own Kararu Rinamino-Elric, Sutra and Simon Rinamino-Elric, Challan Rinamino, Morgan Elric, Kari Stara-Elric, Alexander and Gabriella Elric, Serim and Leroy (Roy's son) Mustang, Elizabeth Hughes, and Izumi, Casey and Larka Tringham, and Silvermoon15 owns Shikou Stone-Tringham, I'm just borrowing.

The Demon Alchemist II: Sin's Nightmare

Chapter 2: They're Back

"But Momma…I don't want Daddy to die!"

"Wha…what?" Ed gasped.

"It can't be…" Gracia whispered. Hughes gulped, a single tear running down his cheek before he gently pushed his way out of the small crowd they had. Elizabeth and Elicia clung to Gracia, Larka hugging her father. Simon, Sutra, Kari and Gabriella all followed suit as they watched Hughes walk quickly over to Hawkeye at the end of the hall.

"I…I have to go back to Shikou…Larka, why don't you come with me?" Russell asked.

"All right." Larka said, quickly following her father back into the room, their demeanors changing instantly so that Shikou wouldn't know what was going on…yet.

"Riza?" Hughes asked hesitantly once he reached her.

"Maes?" Hawkeye said, quickly turning around to look at him. "Oh, Maes!" She cried, jumping up to bury her face in his shoulder as she sobbed.

"Riza…shh, Riza…what's wrong?" Hughes asked.

"It's…it's Roy…" Hawkeye managed out.

"What's wrong?" Hughes repeated.

"They're back…" She whispered.

"Who's back?" Hughes asked, concerned by her sudden change of tone.

"Them…the Homunculi…" Hawkeye said.

Hughes eyes went wide. He turned to the two kids, his eyes filled with slight terror. "Serim, Leroy, go to Aunt Gracia."

"Uncle Hughes, but-" Serim started to protest.

"NOW."

Serim nodded in defeat, grabbing Leroy's hand to bring him with her to the others. When they arrived at the small group, Kararu knelt down, pulling the two into a hug, picking Leroy up into her arms when she pulled away.

Gracia motioned for Serim to come over, pulling out a cloth.

"What happened?" Gracia whispered, dabbing the cloth over Serim's face to get the blood that hadn't dried off.

"I'm…I'm not sure…it all happened so fast…" Serim whispered. She seemed to be in a state of shock at the moment.

"Why do you have blood on your face?" Gracia whispered.

"It's Dad's…" Serim said, everyone listening to her and Gracia while they watched the other end of the hallway. Rose turned to Serim on her last statement, Kari and Gabriella still clinging to her.

"You mean…it was your fathers?" Rose asked. Serim nodded, looking over at Rose with her wide, shocked, confused brownish-red eyes.

"We were…we were walking home…" Serim said, everyone shutting up so they could listen to what she had to say. "Dad had taken us to see a play…it was let out late…we were walking…and suddenly…blood spattered over Mom and I…" She opened her black coat to reveal that her once white fleece shirt was now stained and spattered with red.

"I looked up at Dad and he started to fall…someone…someone shot him in his left eye…" She said, her shoulders shaking with sobs. "Mom saw who it was…but we…we couldn't follow him because we had to get Dad here…I don't want Daddy to die…"

"Your father is not going to die, Serim. He's a very strong man. He can make it through this." Gracia told her, pulling the girl into a hug. A moment later, when she pulled away, she saw that Serim was gripping something. "What are you holding, Serim?"

Serim looked down at her hand, then held it out and uncurled her fingers. "Daddy gave these to me just before he passed out…he told me they were mine now…that it was my responsibility to…to be the next Flame…"

Kararu looked closely at what was in Serim's hands and tears slipped down her face again.

It was a pair of Mustang's ignition gloves.

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xxTwo Hours Laterxx

"Kararu? Kararu, wake up."

Kararu awoke with a jump. "Huh? Wha…?"

"The doctor's just finished with Mustang…they're going to come and tell Hawkeye how bad it is." Ed told her.

"Oh…" She said, looking in her lap to see Sutra curled up, Simon leaning against her shoulder from the chair next to her. She smiled down at her kids as they slept, looking over at Hawkeye, who was asleep leaning on Hughes' shoulder, Serim sitting in the chair next to Hawkeye, Leroy on her lap.

"Hughes couldn't get much out of her, could he?" She whispered, gently brushing bangs out of Sutra's eyes.

Ed shook his head.

"I thought as much…" Kararu whispered with a sigh.

A door opened and she and Ed looked over, seeing a doctor walk in. They sat straight, watching as he walked over to the sleeping Hawkeye.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Mustang?" The doctor asked. Hawkeye woke with a jolt, looking around, then saw the doctor.

"How is he? How's my husband?" Hawkeye asked, fearing the worst.

"Roy is going to be fine." The doctor told her, causing her to sigh and sob with relief. "The bullet, upon impact, destroyed his iris and it was too late to save the optic nerve, but the bullet stopped before it reached his brain."

"I'm hearing scary words here…" Hawkeye said.

"In English…Roy will never be able to see out of his left eye again." The doctor told her.

"How is he now?"

"He's recovering from the short surgery. Post surgery…he will only be able to see with his right eye. He will have some trouble with depth perception for a while, but he should get used to it and be able to leave within a week." The doctor said.

"All right…thank you, doctor…"

"You can come see him in the morning, all right? We still need to monitor him." He said.

Hawkeye nodded. The doctor gave her a reassuring smile, then turned and walked back out of the room.

"Kids…kids, wake up." Hawkeye said, shaking Leroy and Serim awake.

"What is it, Mom?" Serim asked sleepily.

"Your father's going to be just fine…the doctor came and told me…he'll just be blind out of his left eye." Hawkeye said.

"Thank goodness…" Serim said, burying her face in Hawkeye's shoulder. Leroy didn't really understand what was going on, but managed out a smile past his confusion anyway.

Hughes had listened to the conversation and slowly nodded, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. He looked at his two daughters and wife, realizing that they were asleep before deciding to join them as he laid his head back down on Gracia's shoulder.

Kararu and Ed watched, smiling happily at hearing that Mustang would be fine. Kararu shook the kids awake.

"Uncle Roy is going to be just fine." Kararu told them.

"We knew he would…" They both said sleepily with a smile before falling back asleep against their mother. Kararu smiled down at them.

"The kids always know what the other's thinking…" She said with a small, happy sigh.

"It's scary sometimes…" Ed said with a small smile.

Kararu gave a small chuckle as Ed lay his head down on Kararu's shoulder. A moment later he looked up at her as she went ridged.

"Kararu?" He asked quietly.

"Edward, we need to get everyone out of this room. NOW." She said as she started to shake her children's shoulders.

"Why?" Ed asked, concerned for her.

"I have a feeling. Get Hawkeye up." Kararu told him, the twins looking up at her confused.

Ed nodded, knowing not to think bad of her gut feelings. He stood and was about to wake Gracia, Hawkeye and Hughes when Gracia sat up, looking around.

"You feel it too?" Kararu asked her as she got the twins to stand on their feet.

Gracia nodded, waking her children, along with her husband, then Hawkeye.

Ed looked over to see Rose sitting up and waking Al as well.

"Hmm…women intuition is a wonderful thing." Ed muttered under his breath as they all took their children and stood. Kararu was ushering them out of the room just as a bomb exploded behind them. She pushed her twins behind her as she turned with her back to the explosion, Ed with them as he had no time to react to Kararu's actions, letting out a pained grunt as pain shot up from her arm and back.

"Kararu!" Ed yelled, hearing her pained sound. He looked up at her, but she smiled at him, then down at her two children.

"I'm fine…are you three okay?" She asked.

All three nodded.

"Good." Kararu said, then turned slightly to look back at the smoking room, holding her twins close. She turned to the other three families, Hughes sporting a gash on one of his arms, Al having a bruise starting to form on his right cheek. "Is everyone all right?"

They all nodded.

"That was a close one…" Kararu said, leaning her forehead against the wall. "What the heck was that, anyways…?"

"I have…no idea…" Ed said, then heard two yells back behind them. Both he and Kararu turned back to the area the explosion had occurred to listen, though no more yelling came. They looked at each other, nodding, then both ran out on the broken bits of rock and cement to look, motioning to the twins to stay put.

Kararu nearly fainted; she didn't, but she fell to her knees. "Oh my gosh…" She whispered, her eyes wide, her hands dropped to the side.

"Kararu, what's wrong?" Ed asked.

She could only point at a person standing there. Ed looked over, wondering what could shock her so much, then his eyes widened. "Oh…"

"What's wrong? Can't move anymore?" A yell came from the teenager Kararu was pointing at, though he wasn't yelling at them. Ed turned to see a young man, in his early to mid twenties lying on the ground, face down. His sandy brown hair was littered with dirt and small rocks.

Ed watched as the young man pulled himself up on his hands and knees, glaring at the teenager.

"What do you want from me!" The man shouted angrily.

The teen smirked, his brownish-crimson eyes glowing evilly. "You're life." He smirked again, then seemed to throw something, but nothing was in his hand.

"Shoot!" The man yelled, quickly scrambling to his feet, his deep brown eyes frantic. He started to run, though Ed watched confused.

A moment later, an explosion went up right where the man had been laying. Ed's eyes widened.

"Oh my holy…" Ed whispered, then picked Kararu up to stand on her feet. "Kararu, snap out of it! That's not your brother!" Ed cried.

Kararu shook herself back to reality then, still looking shocked and a bit frightened.

"I…uh…" Kararu whispered, looking down at her neck and chest. There was a chain around it, and it was a locket; the only thing she had left from him. She picked it up, gulping as she ran her fingers over it, trying to gain the courage that she needed. She looked over at the teen, seeing the sign of the arborous on his right cheek.

"Come here!" Kararu ordered, gathering her wits.

Suddenly, the teen snapped his attention fully back to her and he ran over, standing before her, though his brownish-crimson eyes were wide with confusion and Kararu could tell he was trying to fight off the control she had over him.

"What's your name?" Kararu asked.

He stayed silent, brownish-crimson glaring.

"Ed, get that man inside, now. I've got him." Kararu told him over her shoulder.

Ed nodded, knowing it wasn't a good thing to argue with her at the moment, and walked over to the man where he tripped a few moments before, helping him up to bring him inside, Kararu watching.

"What is your name?" Kararu repeated after turning back to the Homunculus, sounding more agitated and annoyed this time.

"Revenge." He growled.

"Well, Revenge, what's your-" She started to say, but was suddenly caught off guard when he pushed her power of control away and then shoved her away from him. He jumped away, and was suddenly at the top of the building in front of her.

He seemed to throw something, though nothing was in his hand.

Kararu started to run back to the hospital, having an idea of what was going on.

A moment later, her suspicion was proved to be correct as an explosion went off behind her. She turned to see that Revenge was gone, nowhere in sight.

She made it back to the building, Ed and her children running over.

"Are you all right?" Ed asked frantically.

Kararu nodded. "Is that man okay?"

"He collapsed from exhaustion right after I got him inside."

"How's Shikou?" Kararu asked.

"She's doing fine…Russell and Larka had to tell her about the explosion, since of course she heard it, but now she's resting…she should be fine in another hour or so." Ed answered.

"That's good…"

"The guy's being taken care of for now while they call in the police to find the source of that explosion." Ed explained.

Kararu sighed. "I think I know what his specialty is…" Kararu said with a sigh.

"Really? What is it?" Ed asked.

"Daddy, what are you and Momma talkin' about?" Both Sutra and Simon asked, both sounding confused and agitated that they were left in the dark.

Kararu sighed. She sat down in one of the chairs to the side, putting a hand each on one of their shoulders.

"Kids, there are bad people in the world…and there are some that…try to bring dead people back to life. When I brought your father, Aunt Rose and Kari back after the train accident, it was for a good cause, but some people do it for bad…and they don't succeed. What is created when they fail…is a soulless creature." She explained quietly.

"Like Uncle Envy?" They asked her.

Kararu nodded. "Yes, Uncle Envy was one before I used up the rest of my Philosopher's Stone to bring his complete soul back to him. Now, back to what I was saying before. This soulless creature is called a Homunculus." She continued. "They have powers and do things that…aren't suited for everyday life. For instance, there were a few that tried to kill your father and Uncle Al. They were bad people, and apparently…they're back." She finished.

"They have powers…well, not really, but they can do things that regular people or alchemists can't. For instance, you know how Uncle Envy can turn into other people?"

Sutra and Simon nodded.

"That was what he could do. Now, back to your question, Ed." Kararu said, looking back to Ed, who was sitting next to her now.

"Yes?" He asked.

Kararu sighed. "Revenge can create invisible bombs."

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People who reviewed:

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Well, how'd you like the chapter? (-sighs-) Okay, guys, I'm so terribly sorry for not putting this up sooner, I had terrible writers block, and plus, my family's moving, so we've been doing a lot of packing and I haven't been able to write for so long on this…

Oh, and everyone who reviewed, you get a platter of cookies. (-hands out cookies-)

And winryrockbell2, if you could get the rest of that bio to me, I'd like it very much! I'm not meaning to bug you, but it's starting to get a bit crucial to the story… (-sweatdrops-).

Thanks for reading and please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, but I do own Kararu Rinamino-Elric, Sutra and Simon Rinamino-Elric, Challan Rinamino, Morgan Elric, Kari Stara-Elric, Alexander and Gabriella Elric, Serim and Leroy (Roy's son) Mustang, Elizabeth Hughes, Izumi, Casey and Larka Tringham and Revenge, and Silvermoon15 owns Shikou Stone-Tringham, I'm just borrowing.

Join me next time for:

Chapter 3: When the Past Knocks at Future's Door